Assessment

Performance assessment refers to new assessment techniques that require students to construct a response to an open-ended problem or task. In the case of both traditional and performance assessment, the task and the assessment should be closely aligned to the common core. By emphasizing required achievements, the new Core Common Standards are designed to leave room for teachers, curriculum developers, and schools to determine how goals should be reached and what additional topics should be addressed.

Methods of Assessment

This concept of growth curriculum may be the biggest paradigm shift that will occur with most districts as they try to recreate district level Common Core standards under the old static "fixed" curriculum vanguard. Thus, the Standards do not mandate such things as a particular writing process or the full range of meta-cognitive strategies that students may need to monitor and direct their thinking and learning. Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most helpful for meeting the goals set out in the standards.A performance assessment can evaluate students who are demonstrating their skills by performing certain tasks, or it can evaluate products that students have produced to demonstrate their knowledge.According to the CCSSO (Council of Chief State Officers), “performance assessments are ways to measure students’ knowledge and skills that go beyond asking them to answer multiple-choice or fill-in-the-space questions. Typically, students are asked to complete a hands on task that can take 40 minutes or can be completed over several class periods. For example, students might be asked to research and write a magazine article or to conduct and explain the results of a scientific experiment.” Performance assessments can be activities such as science experiments and lab procedures, essays, speeches, computer programming, and so forth. Constructing performance assessment rubrics and applying these assessment strategies to the school program will enable students to demonstrate their basic skills through a real-world application.

Before constructing a performance assessment, the designer must decide on the time length for the assignment, which could range from one class period to a week, or even a month for assessments that require extensive research. Next, the designer must select the performance modes that the task will require, such as speaking, writing, problem solving, and so forth. The designer must also decide how the students will participate in performing the task, for example, individually, in pairs, or in small groups.The actual process of designing performance assessments varies depending on the complexity of the task and the availability of time. The Designing Performance Assessment template, along with the performance assessment worksheet will help assessment designers to create their own specific assessments. It should be noted that assessment techniques can be designed by using either traditional or alternative methods of assessment. Alternative assessment refers to new assessment techniques that require students to construct a response to an open-ended problem or task. In the case of both tradition and alternative assessment, the task and the assessment should be closely aligned to the Common Core Standards. (Read Designing Methods of Assessment)